In the last days of the siege of Dunkirk, Brigadier Claude Nicholson decided to withdraw to the inner perimeter of Calais, hoping to delay as long as possible, the inevitable fall of the city. Nicholson’s hope, was to gain precious time for the BEF attempting to evacuate Dunkirk. Accordingly, he ordered the bridges separating the southern part of the city from the “Citadel” to be defended, even though this meant leaving a Rifle Brigade on the “wrong” side of the harbour in an exposed position, which was open to attack from three sides.
The 10th Panzer Division was ordered by General Heinz Guderian, to take Calais as soon as possible. Before commencing the attack on May 25th, General major Ferdinand Schaal sent his panzers to join those of the 1st Panzer Division, east of the town. This move was to prevent the escape of any troops from Calais, while simultaneously preparing for a major assault. Throughout the 25th, the Germans mounted sustained attacks supported by artillery and dive bombers but they made little progress. After two requests for surrender were refused by General Nicholson, Schaal began to advance again at 7 p.m. This time supported by tanks.
Attacker: German (86. Schützen Regiment, 4. Panzer Brigade, 10. Panzer Division)
Defender: British (2nd/The Rifle Brigade, 3rd RTR)
6.5 turns
Players: 2 OBA: None Night: No
Unit Counts:
Squads: A:14.0 D:11.5
AFVs: A:4
PzKpfw IIF PzKpfw IIIF PzKpfw IVD x 2
AFVs: D:3
A13 Mk II x 3
Guns: A:0
ATR 7.92 PzB 39
D:1
OQF 25mm Hotchkiss Boys ATR
Misc Rules:
A: Random German air attacks by SSR w D: AS at some point
Map Board(s):
23
20
Overlays:
NONE
Errata (source)
Players wanting to play this game/Request a match:
Game wasn't even that close. Some of this was due to a hot Sniper which killed the 9-1 manning the hotel and the resulting 1MC breaking EVERYTHING manning the hotel.
The majority was due to the good play of Mattias just shattering the defense. His early dice were amazing and when mine were good, he was nearly 100% on Sniper activations to keep me always on the back foot. I made a game of it, but it was never really close. My troops could pass MC's, I was down a leader and constantly chasing the game.
Worst of all, I had a plan which I abandoned based on early turn 1 success. This caused those troops to be cut off an destroyed by more good play from Mattias. Great game by a good player.
2023-02-16
(A) Jeff B
vs
Magnus Rimvall
German win
Things went exactly as planned as I stormed up the middle of the board with all my tanks to either VBM freeze or OVR the front line Brits, followed up by my infantry. By the end of the turn there were 2 squads prisoner and another 1.5 squads broken (and these would be rounded up the next turn). In other words, almost 1/3 of the entire Brit at-start force. So much for the easy part. I probably way overcommitted my reinforcements to the west (sending 3 squads, the leader, and a tank), but I wanted to make sure I took those easy 2 VP which was guarded by one unit (which turned out only to be a HS). I had bid 7 btw, and that ended up being way too much. I would bid the minimum 5 if playing again. My plan was to grab all four bridge locations for 8 VP (thinking I would trade a tank for a tank) and not worry about taking the Hotel. This plan went to shit when I lost a tank to a very sneaky LOS on Turn 3 to one of his Cruisers, all of which were parked HD behind the Hotel wall. About 1/8 of my men in the middle ran across the bridge to approach the Brits from the other side of the canal and grab the 3rd bridge victory location, another 1/8 stayed put to keep applying the pressure there, while the remainder legged it to the east. Turn 4 saw my western reinforcements race to join the ones across the canal, while the ones in the east wrapped up the large stone building and made their move to the one east of the Hotel (which held the AT gun). With only three turns left to go and me not even close to sniffing the doors of the Hotel, this was looking increasingly unlikely for the Germans. The good news for me was that, starting Turn 5, the Brits ran low on ammo. This turn saw me grab the last bridge location, clean up all outlying buildings, and get all my men within striking distance for a heavy Turn 6 assault. The new plan was to take out all three British tanks with my men. Having lost 8VP of units, and assuming I'd at least hit the 14 mark, that would leave me with 7. Well Turn 6 started brutally, kicking things off with another lost tank with nothing to show for it. I then lost a HS to the HMG, then a full squad. Then my Panzer IVD was immobilised and the crew bailed. So plans once again changed; now I would have to storm the Hotel, and take as many Cruisers down with me as a I could. By the end of my desperate half of Turn 6 things were actually looking within reach though, having taken out a tank with a DC and the MMG squad in CC. The icing on the cake would've been my last DC knocking out the 9-1 HMG stack, but my roll there was less than stellar, and he passed both NMCs with flying colors. During his half of the turn I lost another 1.5 squads and an 8-0, but I broke a British squad and dispatched a Cruiser in CC. He didn't quite have enough men to body block me, but when two squads rallied (including the one freshly-broken), I would have to face two hexes of 20FP. After surving a PB ATR shot, I froze the HMG nest with my last mobile tank. And then his dice went down the toilet, with lots of 11s and 12s being rolled. Facing ammo shortage as he was, it wasn't pretty. So it came down to three CCs, two of which I blocked any chance of an ambush withdrawal. He did ambush me in one hex, but thankfully not in the one left open to withdrawal. When I either killed him or tied him up in melee in all three I fulfilled the 5VP requirements, leaving me with a final score of 7 (my bid) - consisting of 8VP of bridges, 5VP for the hotel, 2VP of Cruisers, less 8VP of lost units (23CVP).
2022-12-22
(A) Paolo Cariolato
vs
Federico Corso
German win
Nice scenario,
It ended quite early because my opponent tried to stop my germans up front, I was able to encicle and then destroy 4 squads and all his AT infantry based assets (NMG, MMG and ATR). He rightly throw the towel.
The hotel is pivotal in this scenario, it will eventually fall but the brit must make the german pay for it, Don't be fooled the wire and roadblock are there not to stop german AFV but to provide an hassle to advancing infantry and a wall for defending brits.
My AFV spent the game trying to avoid any shot from british AFV, the penality for losing an AFV is simply too high to risk losing more than one (and one you will lose to the hidden GUN.
My bet was 9 CV but in retrospect it was a bit too high, 7 CV is a more sure course of action with 8 CV if you feel more daring.
2022-12-02
(A) Michael Rodgers
vs
Larry Flaherty
German win
I bid 7 as the Germans; opponent bid 6. I went for the city hall. Opponent did not defend it as well as he could have.